Growing Butter Beans In Your Garden

Growing Butter Beans In Your Garden

If you grew up in the southern part of the United States, you know that fresh butter beans are a staple of the Southern cuisine. Growing butter beans in your own garden is a great way to add this tasty bean to your table.

What are Butter Beans?

Chances are you have probably eaten butter beans at least once in your life. If you don’t live in areas that call them butter beans, you may be asking yourself, “What are butter beans?” Butter beans are also called lima beans, but don’t let the undeserved reputation of lima beans dissuade you from trying them. They had it right in naming them butter beans; fresh butter beans are rich and flavorful.

Varieties of Butter Beans

Butter beans come in a wide variety. Some are bush beans such as:

Fordhook

Henderson

Eastland

Thorogreen

Others are pole or climber beans such as:

Yellow

Christmas

King of the Garden

Florida

Growing Butter Beans

Growing butter beans in your garden is easy. As with any vegetable, start with good soil that has been amended with compost or has been fertilized properly.

Plant the butter beans after the last frost of the season and after the soil temperature has gotten above 55 F. (13 C.). Butter beans are very sensitive to cold soil. If you plant them before the soil is warm enough, they won’t germinate.

Plant the seeds about 1 inch deep and 6-10 inches apart. Cover and water thoroughly. You should see sprouts in about one to two weeks.

If you’re growing butter beans that are of the pole variety, then you’ll need to provide a pole, cage or some kind support for the butter beans to climb up.

Be sure to water evenly and make sure the beans receive 2 inches of rain per week. Butter beans do not grow well in dry conditions. But also be aware that too much water will cause the bean pods to be stunted. Good drainage is also essential to healthy butter bean growth.

Harvesting Butter Beans

You should be harvesting butter beans when the pods are plump with the beans but still bright green. Fresh butter beans are supposed to be harvested somewhat immature for eating so that the butter beans tender. If you plan on growing butter beans next year from some of the seeds, allow a few pods to turn brown before harvesting and save those for next year.